Adam Green

Adam Green started his career with singer-songwriter Kimya Dawson in the quirky folk duo the Moldy Peaches — but those who got to know him through the Peaches' posthumous success on the Juno soundtrack may have had to do a double take the first time they heard Green's solo work. Over the past few years, Green has used his goofy-yet-earnest, Calvin Johnson-esque baritone to sing lushly arranged, often retro-leaning pop songs that bear little resemblance to indie folk (or indie anything, really). The clash between those two elements is less jarring than it ought to be; on albums like this year's Minor Love, Green could be compared to Elvis, but he more closely resembles, of all people, Tom Jones: a swaggering yet tender crooner who can turn hearts to butter and convert the air in a room into electricity. Over the top? With a voice like Green's, there's nowhere else to go.